Field of the Invention
This invention refers to traffic safety facilities, light transversal marks for the pedestrian crossings. More precisely, the current invention refers to an automatic light system of the transversal markings for crossing for the pedestrian walkways and to a process of making the transversal markings for crossing for the pedestrian walkways.
The low visibility during night, the snow during winter, the insufficient signalizing of the pedestrian crossings, as well as the fact that some drivers are blinded during the night by the lights of other traffic participants, turn a lot of traffic accidents to have as casualties the pedestrians who were crossing.
A solution to this issue is the intelligent systems of light adopted for the pedestrian crossings.
Description of related art including information disclosed under 37CFR 1.97 and 1.98
The paper RO91625 and RO 125804 B1 reveal examples of automatic signalizing devices for the pedestrians' presence in the close vicinity or on the pedestrian crossing, by using various lighting devices, activated by sensors.
In addition, there are also known right from the technical stage various technical solutions for signalizing during night/fog of the crossings/traffic lanes, by using buried or mounted over the road lighting devices (see, for instance, WO2011129517 A2, U.S. Pat. No. 6,384,742 B1, RU2012118722 A).
It is also known that marking the pedestrians' crossings represents an activity regulated at European level (in Romania by the Standard SR 1848-7:2004). This standard mention at General Provisions (see point 1.2) that the markings “must not disturb in any way the traffic and must not present slippery surface”. Moreover, the same standard enforces that, for the pedestrian crossings, the transversal (white) strips must be 40 cm wide, and the space between two strips must be of 60 cm.
For instance, another solution is described in the Paper JP 2001109995 A referring to a lighting system of a pedestrian crossing by using light devices buried at road level. Each light device is formed of a box with LED-s inside, the upper part of the box being of transparent plastic material in order to allow for the lighting of the pedestrians who are crossing. The Led-s turning on and the lighting of the pedestrian crossing occur depending on various types of sensors of presence/pressure installed on the sidewalk. Despite providing for an efficient control of the lighting of the pedestrian crossing, the solution revealed in the Paper JP 2001109995A has some major disadvantages as it breaches right the general provisions of the Standard SR -1848-7-2004 mentioned above.
More precisely, the manufacturing of the upper side of the box from a board of plastic material 40 cm wide and 3-4 m long (as stipulated by the same Standard) is, not only on rainy weather, a very slippery surface both for the pedestrians, and for the vehicles, the lid length being larger that the width of a vehicle wheel, therefore the adherence being much more lower. In addition, the resistance insured by the board of plastic material for the heavy traffic (for instance, a maximal mass of each axis of 9 tons) or its capacity to remain transparent in terms of intense contact with abrasive materials are also noticeable disadvantages. Moreover, the Paper JP 2001109995 A does not reveal and does not suggest how the access to the inside of the box is provided in case of maintenance operations, nor it does mention the factual proceeding to bury the boxes of the lighting devices.
The main object of the current invention is to provide for an improved solution related to the provisions of the Paper JP 2001109995 A, especially with regard to an increased robustness of the lighting bodies, even for the heavy traffic, to an increased safety both for the pedestrians and for the vehicles crossing over the marking achieved according to the current invention, and not lately for lesser time for installing it.
Another objective of the current invention is to provide an automatic lighting system of the transversal markings for the pedestrians' crossings and the process to manufacture the transversal crossing markings for more economic crossings.
A supplementary objective of the current invention is to provide for an automatic lighting system of the transversal marks for crossing for the pedestrians' crossings and a process to produce the transversal crossing marks for the pedestrians' walkways which to respect the provisions of the Standard SR 1848-7:2004.